Dear friends

HCN TAKES A HOLIDAY

Thanks to all of our readers and friends who attended our annual holiday open house on Dec. 6. As we always do this time of year, HCN staffers are taking a two-week break to sing carols, swill wassail and celebrate the holiday with family and friends. The next issue of HCN will hit your mailbox around Jan. 22.

BETSY AND JON ARE READY FOR THEIR CLOSEUPS

Betsy Marston, who with husband Ed ran HCN for 19 years and now edits our Writers on the Range opinion columns, was recently invited to join a Jan. 23 panel in New York to discuss a public TV news show that she helped produce and host 35 years ago. The show, The 51st State, was built on the premise that "the metropolitan area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut constituted a 51st state of shared concerns," says Betsy. PBS station WNET received a grant to rescue its deteriorating older videotapes, and decided to include the series’ mini- documentaries about topics like teen gangs, the women’s movement and black poets. Longtime HCN contributor Jon Christensen recently made his first foray into television work. He’s the on-air correspondent for a report that will air on the PBS program NOW on Jan. 5. "Turning a Red State Green" (the working title) describes how Rep. Mike Simpson, the Republican sponsor of the controversial Boulder-White Clouds wilderness bill, and Rick Johnson of the Idaho Conservation League worked to find a new way forward for wilderness protection in the reddest state in America.

BRING YOUR OWN POPCORN

HCN invites Bay Area readers to join us for an evening of rousing discussion on Saturday, Jan. 20. Several panelists, including John Leshy, former Interior Depart-ment solicitor, will offer their views on the post-election Western landscape. The panel will be followed by a documentary on oil and gas drilling, A Land Out of Time. Join us at the Krutch Theater on the UC Berkeley Clark Kerr Campus, 2601 Warring St., Berkeley, Calif., at 7 p.m.

A LITTLE GUY PIPES UP

Steve Wilent, a self-described "editor/owner/woodchopper" who runs the small independent community paper The Mountain Times in Welches, Ore., sent us some back issues. "Thanks for covering the ‘little guys’ in Western media. Here’s a sampling of my paper, circ. 6,000." Recent stories include "How to Put Your Family and Home in Danger Without Really Trying (or, Hoodland Firefighters save The Mountain Times)," "Fire on the Mountain and Lightning in the Air," and "Wildfires Burn Mt. Hood Forests." We sense a theme.

LOOKING FOR A FEW GOOD WRITERS

HCN is always on the lookout for talented writers interested in contributing to our coverage of the West’s environment, natural resources and culture. See our freelancer guidelines at www.hcn.org.

CORRECTION

Our recent story "Old but Faithful" referred to Ron Arnberger; his first name is actually Rob. Our sincere apologies, Rob.